Origins
The verb 'try' is used so constantly in modern English that its meaning seems self-evident: to attempt, to make an effort. Yet the word's history reveals that this familiar sense is relatively recent, and that 'try' originally entered English as a legal and technical term meaning 'to examine, to test, to sift' — with no connection to personal effort or attempt.
Middle English 'trien' appeared in the late thirteenth century, borrowed from Anglo-French 'trier' (to pick out, to cull, to sift, to examine, to judge). The Anglo-French verb was used extensively in legal contexts: to 'try' a case was to examine it judicially, to sift the evidence and render judgment. This is the sense preserved in 'trial' — a judicial examination — and in the legal phrase 'to try a case,' which remains standard legal English.
The etymology of Anglo-French 'trier' has been debated, but the most widely accepted derivation traces it to Late Latin *tritāre, a frequentative (repeated-action) form of Latin 'terere' (to rub, to grind, to wear away, to thresh). The frequentative form would mean 'to rub repeatedly, to grind thoroughly, to sift' — and sifting grain (separating wheat from chaff by rubbing and shaking) is plausibly the concrete image behind the abstract legal sense of examining and judging. The PIE root *terh₁- (to rub, to turn, to bore through) also produced English 'trite' (from Latin 'tritus,' rubbed, worn out), 'attrition' (a wearing away), 'contrite' (thoroughly rubbed, hence crushed with remorse), 'detriment' (a rubbing away), and 'tribulation' (from Latin 'tribulāre,' to press, to oppress — from 'tribulum,' a threshing sledge).
Modern Usage
The semantic development of 'try' in English proceeded in several stages. The earliest uses (late thirteenth century) are legal: to try a case, to try an accused person — meaning to examine judicially. Closely related was the technical sense of testing quality: to try gold (testing its purity by touchstone or acid), to try a rope (testing its strength). From these testing senses emerged the more general meaning 'to put to the test, to test by experience' (fifteenth century). And from 'to test oneself against something' came the modern sense 'to attempt, to make an effort' (sixteenth century). The progression is logical: examination became testing, testing became attempting.
The phrase 'tried and true' preserves the testing sense: something 'tried' has been tested and proved reliable. 'Trying' as an adjective (a trying day, a trying person) preserves the wearing-down sense: something trying tests your patience, rubs you the wrong way — connecting back to the Latin root 'terere' (to rub).
The noun 'trial' was borrowed separately from Anglo-French 'trial' (an examination, a test, a judicial hearing), but it is ultimately from the same verb. In modern English, 'trial' preserves the original testing and judicial senses more transparently than 'try' does: a criminal trial, a trial run, trial and error, a trial by jury. The phrase 'trial by fire' combines the judicial and testing senses — an ordeal that both tests and judges.
Later History
In rugby, a 'try' (scoring by touching the ball down in the opponent's in-goal area) preserves an intermediate sense. Originally, scoring a try did not award points directly — it gave the scoring team the right to 'try' for a goal (a kick at the posts). The try was literally a test, an attempt at the more valuable score. The name persisted even after the try itself became a scoring play worth points.
The grammar of 'try' interacts with infinitives in ways that differ between British and American English. 'Try to go' (with a to-infinitive) is standard in both varieties. 'Try and go' (with a bare infinitive connected by 'and') is common in informal British English and has been attested since the seventeenth century, but is often criticized as incorrect. The 'try and' construction is syntactically unusual — the 'and' does not really conjoin two separate actions but functions as a quasi-infinitive marker, similar to 'go and' in 'go and see.'
The phrase 'try on' (to put on a garment to test its fit) extends the testing sense into a concrete, everyday domain. 'Try out' (to test something by using it) and the noun 'tryout' (an audition, a competitive test) similarly preserve the testing meaning. 'Try out for the team' means to submit yourself for testing — the original judicial sense of 'try,' applied to athletics.
Legacy
The imperative 'Try!' has become one of the most common words of encouragement in English, often paired with inspirational rhetoric about effort and perseverance. This use is entirely in the modern 'attempt' sense and carries no trace of the original testing meaning. Yet the etymology adds a hidden layer of significance: to try is not just to attempt but to test — to put yourself through a trial, to submit to the grinding and sifting that separates what holds up from what falls apart. The word that we use for our most casual efforts carries, in its history, the weight of judicial examination and the grinding of grain.